United Artists via Everett Collection
It all starts with a mullet and an attitude. By the time that Patrick Swayze appeared as the legendary bouncer (or cooler) Dalton in 1989's Road House, he was two years removed from his star making turn in Dirty Dancing. Audiences already knew that he could dance, but nobody knew that he could rip a guy's throat out with his bare hands.
In the 25 years since its release, Road House has become a cult classic, both for its over-the-top fight scenes and Swayze's mock-philosophical dialogue and awesome hair. With its frequent appearances on cable television, it's never out of sight for very long, but we've compiled some fun facts to help you enjoy the greatest bad movie ever the next time you find yourself drawn in by the majesty of Swayze. Just remember the immortal words of Dalton: "I want you to be nice, until it's time not to be nice."
1. Although the film is set in the town of Jasper, Missouri, the exterior of the film's infamous bar The Double Deuce was built strictly for the filming on location in California and then was torn down. Some of the interiors were shot, however, in a real bar in Anaheim that has since closed.
2. Screenwriter David Lee Henry has said that Dalton was named after the town of Dalton, Georgia. He stopped at a bar there during a road trip and it ended up serving in part as the inspiration for his script.
3. Dalton is shown reading Jim Harrison's Legends of the Fall, which is the basis for the 1994 Brad Pitt-Anthony Hopkins movie of the same name.
4. Movie trailers frequently feature parts that are subsequently cut before a film is released, but Road House has the unofficial record for the most occurrences of deleted scenes. The original trailer had at least five different clips that don't appear in the finished version.
5. The Jeff Healey Band, which serves as the house band of The Double Deuce, had their biggest hit "Angel Eyes" on the charts while Road House was still in theaters, but the song isn't from the movie. Healey, the blind Canadian guitarist, and his group recorded their album See the Light concurrently with the movie soundtrack.
6. In a sad coincidence, both Swayze and Ben Gazzara, who played Dalton's nemesis Brad Wesley, both died of pancreatic cancer… Swayze in 2009 and Gazzara in 2012.
7. As awesome as Swayze's mullet was, the actor himself didn't like it. In the book One Last Dance, Swayze's biographer Wendy Leigh quoted the actor as calling the Road House hair style the "bane of my existence."
8. Red West, who played the owner of the auto parts store (also named Red), was a high school friend of Elvis Presley. West was a charter member of Presley's "Memphis Mafia" and functioned as one of the singer's bodyguards into the 1970s.
9. Even though Dalton famously says that "Pain don't hurt," the axiom didn't apply to Swayze. Among the various ways he was banged up during shooting was when Marshall Teague, who played Jimmy (the bad guy who gets his throat ripped out), hit Swayze with what he thought was a prop log... only to find out that it was actual hard wood.
10. One of the fired bartenders from The Double Deuce was played by John Doe, better known to music fans as the founder of the punk band X.
11. Kevin Tighe, who played Dalton's boss, bar owner Frank Tilghman, was better known for his work on television. He was one of the stars of the '70s hit Emergency! and later played Locke's father on Lost.
12. Even though Swayze is shown practicing t'ai chi, Dalton never actually uses that particular style of martial arts in the movie's fight scenes. Instead he uses moves from various sources, including the Korean discipline of hapkido.
13. Annette Bening was originally cast as "Doc," the ER doctor played by Kelly Lynch.
14. Lynch said in an interview with The AV Club that Bill Murray and his brothers like to call her husband, screenwriter Mitch Glazer (Scrooged), every time that they see Road House on TV to remind him about her steamy sex scenes with Swayze.
15. Lynch reportedly spent a month hanging around a real emergency room to prepare for her role. She learned the proper way to sew a medical stitch… but then the script was changed so that she never got to showcase her new skill.
16. Dalton had a thing for Buicks. Before he leaves for Missouri the "beater" car that he drives to protect his prized Mercedes is a 1964 Buick Riviera. Once he gets to Jasper, he buys the 1965 edition of the same car model.
17. Just as he had with Dirty Dancing, Swayze sings on the soundtrack and his song "Cliff's Edge" is heard on a radio in the film.
18. The Otis Redding song "These Arms of Mine" is used during one of the love scenes between Swayze and Lynch. In Dirty Dancing, the same song is used during the initial love scene between Swayze and Jennifer Grey.
19. Kitschy stage director Timothy Haskell did an off-Broadway retelling of Road House in 2003 titled Road House: The Stage Version of the Cinema Classic That Starred Patrick Swayze Except This One Stars Taimak from the '80s Cult Classic 'The Last Dragon' Wearing a Blonde Mullet Wig.Try saying that three times fast.
20. Road House has been a running gag on both Mystery Science Theater 3000, where it was Crow's favorite movie, and in Family Guy, where Peter punctuates every fight by name-checking the film. Not to be outdone, teammates of Cincinnati Bengals' quarterback Andy Dalton call him "Road House" thanks to his surname.
Follow @Hollywood_com
//
Follow @LifeAsSitcom
//

Every president and every major politician in the last 20 years has had a comedic identity. Bill Clinton was a charismatic playboy; Bush was a hapless cowboy; Al Gore was a well-informed snooze; John Kerry was a droning old man, as was John McCain; and Sarah Palin was a clueless hockey mom. Now, we have Governor Mitt Romney added to the mix as an out-of-touch rich guy stuck in the 1950s. But while we can easily sum up practically every major politician in recent memory (let’s not forget John Edwards as a pretty, pretty man with an infidelity issue), President Barack Obama's comedy peg isn't exactly staring us in the face.
When he first became a candidate for president, Obamas “thing” was that he was “cool.” He was young and with it. His soft spot for basketball, hobnobbing with celebrities, and an actual appreciation for Miles Davis set him apart from other, stuffy politicians. From the now classic Saturday Night Live faux-campaign ad “Be Cool” to his memetastic presence as the “Not Bad” guy (above) — thanks to a hilarious nonchalant expression he made being captured by a photographer — Obama made an initial comedy imprint as the coolest politician alive. “He was super hip and super cool and all the kids just loved him," says Comedy Central's Indecision.com Editorial Producer Mary Phillips-Sandy. "There was definitely a sense of wanting to sort of take that and looking at him and that persona and the way he was being perceived and sort of just finding the humor in how over the top it got.” And as time wore on, that peg didn’t exactly dissipate. Instead, it got a few bedfellows.
After we settled into the idea that Obama is a righteous dude, we started to notice him as something cool people tend to become: a celebrity. He wasn’t just the leader of the free world, he was a guy whose wife wears Michael Kors and Jason Wu dresses. He was a guy whose daughters could heighten the popularity of Uglydolls by dangling miniature ones on their school backpacks. He’s a guy who might get photographed by the paparazzi when he takes a dip in the ocean, much like any bikini-clad Kardashian. It was a status that had been brewing since he faced off against Hillary Clinton in the 2007 primary; just look at his “surprise” appearance on SNL, during which he removed an Obama mask to reveal himself to thunderous applause, accepting it like the most seasoned of celebrities. (Sure, Gore and McCain have both hosted the late night show, but their awkward appearances hardly had the same panache.) Add to this the public’s obsession with the inner-workings of Michelle and Barack at home and the Obamas’ friendship with pop culture and hip-hop royalty Beyonce and Jay-Z, and Obama is practically the new George Clooney. But even Obama's celebrity is still not used for comedy.
Despite being both really, really ridiculously cool and a major celebrity, Obama still boasts another personality quirk. While wildly discordant with his other public traits, the quirk been referenced in comedy bits ranging from Fred Armisen’s now-dormant SNL impression, to The Daily Show’s approach, to Key and Peele’s name-making impression of a calm Obama assisted by a boisterous “anger translator.” It’s his unflinching stoicism. It’s the notion that while the president smiles often and genuinely, he’s not going to flash those pearly whites unless he’s already decided, hours before, that he should do so. It’s a meticulousness that begs notice.
And that’s where it becomes obvious that the President’s comedy profile isn’t as easy to peg as the country's other famous politicians'. How can he be the cool, hip celebrity and the well-read, highly-intellectual, thoughtful, and stoic leader? Our pithy representations don’t usually allow room for that much variation. How can he be the guy who sings Al Green songs at the Apollo and the guy who’s so stifled that we’re inclined to imagine all the frustration going on in his head? How can he be all those things in the realm of pop culture, a place that loves to boil politicians down to their most ostentatious characteristics? “It feels more nuanced, [determining] what would be the characteristics of Obama in comedy," says the artistic director of New York’s Upright Citizen’s Brigade theater, Nate Dern. "It’s not a one-note thing.”
Depending on where you look, different comedic outlets are picking up on varying subtleties of his personality. But why has Obama escaped the fates of all presidents and presidential candidates before him? (Heck, even Gerald Ford became “the falling president,” thanks to Chevy Chase’s inflectionless impression.) To be fair, many folks started off on the wrong foot with Obama-centric comedy. Phillips-Sandy points out that when Obama first hit the national stage, some folks in the comedy world feared there was no humor to be found in the could-be president. “I remember back in 2008 reading all these [articles] and people were saying, ‘Oh, how are we ever going to make fun of Obama?’ And that was fascinating to me that that was even a question,” she says.
But clearly those naysayers were wrong; over the past four years, Obama has been a presence throughout comedy \'97 after all, how could something like SNL, The Daily Show, or any comedy platform go four years without joking about the POTUS? They wouldn’t make it. “I think that, more than anything, revealed an inherent bias or confusion that some people are untouchable, but no one is,” Phillips-Sandy says.
The entertainment industry has indeed long been accused of harboring a liberal bias. But is that what's keeping Obama from being tapped by pop culture? Let's investigate.
Exhibit A: Comedic Bias
It’s not hard to understand that while most comedians strive to be equal opportunity observers, it’s a hell of a lot harder to write jokes about someone whose platform you support than it is to write jokes about someone who stands against most things you believe in. “There are clearly a lot of comedians and a lot of comedy outlets that are just biased one way or another, so no matter what happens with the subjects of their comedy, they’re going to have biased perspectives,” says Phillips-Sandy.
And while there are comedians on all sides of the political spectrum, many of the folks who dominate politics in the pop culture sphere are very obviously on the liberal end. Just look at the way in which SNL went after Bush, with giant swaths of generalization in the name of comedy, while their aim at Obama has swerved all over the place.
And speaking of indecision, over at The Daily Show, we can see a quick distinction in the coverage of both the Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention. While the RNC was given the hilarious dig of a subtitle, “The Road to Jeb Bush 2016,” and was delivered with a side of never-ending “stripper capital of the world\” jokes aimed at Tampa, Fla., the DNC got the lighter (but still funny) “Hope and Change Part 2.” Where the RNC coverage was marked by segments like “Find a Black Person at the RNC” (which, for the record, did appear to prove difficult), the DNC's week-long coverage included bits about the Democratic party\’s proclivity for excessive inclusiveness. Burn.
Further still, when one of today's most respected and lauded comedians Louis C.K. took to Twitter to blast Palin in September, calling her a “c**t” among other vulgar things, few were quick to jump to his defense. But, all the same, the incident only helped to explode his persona as a comedian who cares so little about what we think that his brutally honest brand of comedy will both shock us and send us into fits of laughter. Yet former SNL star Victoria Jackson — who has argued such insensitive points such her the notion that Glee is "making kids gay," referring to "homophobia" as a "cute little buzzword of the liberal agenda" in an attempt to lend an air of comedy to her beliefs on Showbiz Tonight back in 2011 — has become largely ex-communicated by fans and comedy brethren for her conservative views, which are largely labeled "radical" instead of comical.
Still, this inherent bias in much of mainstream comedy doesn’t wholly explain President Obama's scattered profile. After all, Clinton was the Democratic party’s shining star and he still managed to nab a consistent comedic peg as an ol’ Southern boy who’s just out to have a good time (even before Monica Lewinsky gave him a hand with that, so to speak). The lack of a simple comedic profile isn’t a Democratic thing. It’s an Obama thing.
Exhibit B: Obama\'92s Stern Demeanor
Of course, the question now is, “What is the Obama thing?” After all, the man is purposefully difficult to read and to predict. (If we pit all the presidents of the last few decades against each other in a poker game, let’s just say my money would be on Obama.) “With Obama, I get the impression that he’s even smarter than he lets on, whereas with a lot of politicians, it’s all out there,” Dern says. And it’s true; while many of us are familiar with Obama’s intellectual background, he doesn’t often bring it into direct play. He allows himself to remain layered, bringing out the right armor at each opportune moment.
Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, stars of Comedy Central’s Key &amp; Peele, star in a recurring sketch that attempts to unpack this exact issue: What is the President really thinking when he appears so unflappable to the public? Key's Luther stands next to Peele's Obama in each iteration of the sketch, translating all of Obama's diplomatic answers into harsh, angry truths as a method of turning the President's subtext into farce. This take on the POTUS borrows what Key refers to as a “nugget” of the president’s personality, which is then “blown up” for comedic effect. “Our take is that he’s a guy who can’t voice all the things he would like to, that he has boundaries as a president and as an individual that prevent him from being emotive,” Peele says.
But that’s just one singular aspect that the duo chose to focus on. Key and Peele's take also points to the other, sometimes hidden, aspects of his personality. “He is a very multifaceted character," Peele adds. "He’s a funny guy; he’s a serious guy; he’s a smart guy; he’s a competitor, so it’s hard to put him in a box and I think that’s something that Keegan and I relate to."
And Key’s “Luther” — who presents “what the president is thinking” in an anger-heavy throwdown week after week — is just one imagining of what’s going on inside our president’s head. “There’s nothing that sticks out because of his demeanor,” Key says. And that shows. The president's calm and collected exterior leaves much to the imagination, which is likely why Key sees him as “a reserved, thoughtful man” while many comedic portraits see him as “a super-duper cool guy,” according to Key.
It's that dichotomy that tripped up the comedians when they actually spoke with the president in person. Because, according to Key and Peele, he was neither of those men. “When we — I’m just going to name drop — so when we met the president [laughs], I called my wife and I said, ‘He’s warmer than you think he’d be in person. You think of him as really calm and collected and really cool, but he’s warmer than you’d think,” Key says.
The comedian even goes as far as to compare Obama to someone who's often represented as the president's polar opposite: George W. Bush. “That’s the interesting thing is that he has a very approachable warmth, much like everyone said Bush had," Key says. "But he also exudes, simultaneously, sheer competence."
That’s certainly one way to vary your comedic footprint: Be an enigma, wrapped in a riddle, and hide it all with a calm, collected demeanor.
Exhibit C: The Gold Standard of Impressions
Of course, there’s something to be said about the power of a single good impression. The honor of the de facto presidential impression usually goes to SNL, oftentimes because of its strength and because of the series’ lasting influence and visibility. “One thing that happens is that there will be a comedian who does impressions and kind of becomes the gold standard for that politician,” Dern says. “So with George W. Bush, it was Will Ferrell and then everyone’s George W. Bush impression after that really were just impressions of Will Ferrell doing George W. Bush." Every iteration we saw of Bush after Ferrell attempted it, from Frank Caliendo’s impression to Comedy Central’s Lil’ Bush cartoon, was informed by Ferrell’s scope.
And to some extent, that happened with Armisen’s impression on SNL, but his influence was heavier in technique than content. Armisen was the first to nail Obama’s difficult cadence, laying the support for other impressionists to follow. And at first, the way of speaking, itself, was the joke. But that didn’t last long. (Especially when other folks, like Peele, were managing uncannily accurate vocal impressions.) A quick survey of Armisen’s Obama sketches over four years continually see comedy happening around the character rather than comedy involving the character, often bringing in hapless “Uncle Joe” Biden to bring the funny rather than relying on the President’s quirks.
Now, SNL has switched horses, blowing the “gold standard” format to bits. Jay Pharoah’s ridiculously accurate vocal impression is accompanied by caricature-like, yet fairly accurate facial expressions, eschewing one standard and introducing another. The sheer fact that we’re able to switch “standards” (and make a switch that was done without the pressure of a cast member suddenly leaving or becoming unable to perform) and not only continue the political satire without interruption, but also enjoy yet another take on the Obama comedy persona as more than just a ridiculously deliberate talker is significant. Especially when we had four years to get comfortable with Armisen's take.
When Ferrell left SNL and forced other comedians to step into his rather large, Bush-impersonating shoes, no one could cut it. Chris Parnell was generally disliked; Darrell Hammond was fine, but only did it twice (and sounded remarkably like Clinton instead of Bush); Will Forte’s little lamb of a president didn’t sit too well with viewers; and Jason Sudeikis’ placeholder Bush just kept the spot warm until Ferrell could return to reprise the role in a guest stint. When Hammond did Clinton, no one else could compare. When Chase did Ford, he became the pop culture depiction of Ford, despite the fact that he didn't look or sound anything like the president. And when we think of a George H.W. Bush joke, we’re still greeted with visions of Dana Carvey in our heads. Why then, was it so easy to replace Armisen?
It could be because Armisen’s impression simply wasn’t complete. The blame could fall on the comedian himself. But it’s hard to believe that SNL would let four years pass if people were dissatisfied with what Armisen was laying down. The more likely answer points, once again, to Obama himself. We’ve already established that his demeanor makes him difficult to read and that his plethora of public-facing personality features give comedians a great deal to work with. Perhaps the reason the “gold standard” rule isn’t really sticking with Obama is that none of his pop culture pegs are rising to the top of the heap. He remains a complicated guy, and as such, comedy consumers require a multifaceted array of presidential hilarity.
Exhibit D: The State of Comedy
So, Obama requires a more sophisticated array of comedic representations? It makes sense — the face of comedy and its impact on politics happen to have changed greatly in the last four years. “[Comedy] is something that registers and resonates with the voting public," Phillips-Sandy says. "In the new social web, it flies around the country faster than any press release ever could."
Politicians, Obama not excepted, can’t ignore the presence and relevance of comedy, thanks in great part to the legitimizing of political comedy wrought by The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and sites like Phillips-Sandy’s Indecision. And throughout his presence at the forefront of politics, Obama’s team has been on top of the varying offshoots of his image. “They put more thought into the branding and positioning of their candidate in pop culture than we’ve seen with any other candidate who’s run for president," Phillips-Sandy says. "They’re smart, they’re younger, they’re digitally savvy, and they know that people like me are all sitting here waiting for our opportunity and they work really, really hard right out of the gate to package and present something that would be a little more appealing to people, just like when you’re launching a product into the consumer market."
While we can certainly witness the effects of that process, especially through his presidency and leading up to this 2012 campaign, we’ve witnessed Obama being placed in specific realms of comedy, going tete-a-tete with Stewart on The Daily Show and slow-jamming the news with Jimmy Fallon over on NBC. He and his team see our game and they’re playing.
But the field is bigger than it has been for any president before him and it’s only getting bigger. “Also, we’re seeing an interesting phenomenon where we’re seeing more comedy than ever,” Phillips-Sandy says. \”Comedy is no longer just in a nightclub or on a TV, it’s on your phone, it’s on your tablet, it’s everywhere and you can access it anywhere. And that’s changed the dynamic I think,” she says. And perhaps that’s what has helped audiences seek more than a gold standard impression, and want more than a one-note comedic persona when it comes to our president. There’s just too much opportunity for something more.
When you devote time to creating comedy around a political figure in spheres that are seen daily and have further opportunities to expand on a subject (like daily political comedy blogs, memes, and Colbert and Stewart’s shows), we become accustomed to that comedy beast getting its daily bread. While weekly impressions on SNL can certainly add the levity that we often seek to the political conversation, they can’t keep up with the daily dissection we find elsewhere. “The Daily Show, that can devote several minutes to a segment and can return to it, day after day — it’s more suited to deliver a more nuanced portrait of someone or an issue over time,” Dern says.
What we have on our hands here is a full-fledged and valid political conversation going on through the medium of comedy. “I don’t think that anyone is going to tell you an animated GIF of Obama is going to replace a detailed report of his shifting position on gay rights or his refusal to stop drone strikes or his healthcare plan or whatever, but I think these items can help sum up truths or moments that are part of the national conversation and national consciousness and it can really, not just shed some light on things that are happening, but really bring people together in an awareness of what’s going on in the political scene," Phillips-Sandy says. "That’s ultimately a really good thing for us."
Of course, this opens up a big question: Is this peg-less comedy profile that Obama seems to be enjoying the product of his presidency and the way his staffers have played the game? Or is it a symptom of a growing and shifting comedy world? Would this question arise even if McCain had been named our nation’s leader in 2008? And the answer is maybe, to a certain extent.
We can’t discount what the Obama campaign has done to play along with the comedy world, or the unique nature of his public persona; however, we can see that other politicians are wising up to this new order. Phillips-Sandy says Romney’s handling of this new realm of comedy and its gaining relevance isn't any different from Obama’s. “I think Romney’s evolved, especially from seeing the primaries in which you had all these wacky characters around him and it was sort of like Romney’s a robot," she says. "We know a lot more about him. He’s sort of out there more — [now] he’s kind of like Eddie Haskell running for president.”
And this approach extends beyond Romney. Romney and Obama aren’t the only folks saddled with the effects of the comedy world. No one in politics (or outside of politics) is safe from the reach of a good joke. “I think in a lot of ways, it’s a function of what we know about people, of what we’re allowed to know about people and the opportunities that we have to sort of see them in action,” Phillips-Sandy says.
No matter who is president now, and who is president next, we’re witnessing a sort of new world order in political comedy. Whether or not you believe Obama is a hard target to spoof, it’s hard to refute that he’s, at the very least, enjoyed a realm of political satire unseen by his predecessors. That could be due to his uniqueness or it could be the world that's changing around him. But hey, it's an election year. If you can't disprove it, it's true.
Follow Kelsea on Twitter @KelseaStahler
[Photo Credits: WhiteHouse.org; Ian White; Dana Edelson/NBC; PictureGroup]
From Our Partners:What Happened to 33 Child Stars (Celebuzz)40 Most Revealing See-Through Red Carpet Looks (Vh1)

In a post-Harry Potter Avatar and Lord of the Rings world the descriptors "sci-fi" and "fantasy" conjure up particular imagery and ideas. The Hunger Games abolishes those expectations rooting its alternate universe in a familiar reality filled with human characters tangible environments and terrifying consequences. Computer graphics are a rarity in writer/director Gary Ross' slow-burn thriller wisely setting aside effects and big action to focus on star Jennifer Lawrence's character's emotional struggle as she embarks on the unthinkable: a 24-person death match on display for the entire nation's viewing pleasure. The final product is a gut-wrenching mature young adult fiction adaptation diffused by occasional meandering but with enough unexpected choices to keep audiences on their toes.
Panem a reconfigured post-apocalyptic America is sectioned off into 12 unique districts and ruled under an iron thumb by the oppressive leaders of The Capitol. To keep the districts producing their specific resources and prevent them from rebelling The Capitol created The Hunger Games an annual competition pitting two 18-or-under "tributes" from each district in a battle to the death. During the ritual tribute "Reaping " teenage Katniss (Lawrence) watches as her 12-year-old sister Primrose is chosen for battle—and quickly jumps to her aid becoming the first District 12 citizen to volunteer for the games. Joined by Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) a meek baker's son and the second tribute Effie the resident designer and Haymitch a former Hunger Games winner-turned-alcoholic-turned-mentor Katniss rides off to The Capitol to train and compete in the 74th Annual Hunger Games.
The greatest triumph of The Hunger Games is Ross' rich realization of the book's many worlds: District 12 is painted as a reminiscent Southern mining town haunting and vibrant; The Capitol is a utopian metropolis obsessed with design and flair; and The Hunger Games battleground is a sprawling forest peppered with Truman Show-esque additions that remind you it's all being controlled by overseers. The small-scale production value adds to the character-first approach and even when the story segues to larger arenas like a tickertape parade in The Capitol's grand Avenue of Tributes hall it's all about Katniss.
For fans the script hits every beat a nearly note-for-note interpretation of author Suzanne Collins' original novel—but those unfamiliar shouldn't worry about missing anything. Ross knows his way around a sharp screenplay (he's the writer of Big Pleasantville and Seabiscuit) and he's comfortable dropping us right into the action. His characters are equally as colorful as Panem Harrelson sticking out as the former tribute enlivened by the chance to coach winners. He's funny he's discreet he's shaded—a quality all the cast members share. As a director Ross employs a distinct often-grating perspective. His shaky cam style emphasizes the reality of the story but in fight scenarios—and even simple establishing shots of District 12's goings-on—the details are lost in motion blur.
But the dread of the scenario is enough to make Hunger Games an engrossing blockbuster. The lead-up to the actual competition is an uncomfortable and biting satire of reality television sports and everything that commands an audience in modern society. Katniss' brooding friend Gale tells her before she departs "What if nobody watched?" speculating that carnage might end if people could turn away. Unfortunately they can't—forcing Katniss and Peeta to become "stars" of the Hunger Games. The duo are pushed to gussy themselves up put on a show and play up their romance for better ratings. Lawrence channels her reserved Academy Award-nominated Winter's Bone character to inhabit Katniss' frustration with the system. She's great at hunting but she doesn't want to kill. She's compassionate and considerate but has no interest in bowing down to the system. She's a leader but she knows full well she's playing The Capitol's game. Even with 23 other contestants vying for the top spot—like American Idol with machetes complete with Ryan Seacrest stand-in Caesar Flickerman (the dazzling Stanley Tucci)—Katniss' greatest hurdle is internal. A brave move for a movie aimed at a young audience.
By the time the actual Games roll around (the movie clocks in at two and a half hours) there's a need to amp up the pace that never comes and The Hunger Games loses footing. Katniss' goal is to avoid the action hiding in trees and caves waiting patiently for the other tributes to off themselves—but the tactic isn't all that thrilling for those watching. Luckily Lawrence Hutcherson and the ensemble of young actors still deliver when they cross paths and particular beats pack all the punch an all-out deathwatch should. PG-13 be damned the film doesn't skimp on the bloodshed even when it comes to killing off children. The Hunger Games bites off a lot for the first film of a franchise and does so bravely and boldly. It may not make it to the end alive but it doesn't go down without a fight.
="font-style:>

The first and most important thing you should know about Paramount Pictures’ Thor is that it’s not a laughably corny comic book adaptation. Though you might find it hokey to hear a bunch of muscled heroes talk like British royalty while walking around the American Southwest in LARP garb director Kenneth Branagh has condensed vast Marvel mythology to make an accessible straightforward fantasy epic. Like most films of its ilk I’ve got some issues with its internal logic aesthetic and dialogue but the flaws didn’t keep me from having fun with this extra dimensional adventure.
Taking notes from fellow Avenger Iron Man the story begins with an enthralling event that takes place in a remote desert but quickly jumps back in time to tell the prologue which introduces the audience to the shining kingdom of Asgard and its various champions. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) son of Odin is heir to the throne but is an arrogant overeager and ill-tempered rogue whose aggressive antics threaten a shaky truce between his people and the frost giants of Jotunheim one of the universe’s many realms. Odin (played with aristocratic boldness by Anthony Hopkins) enraged by his son’s blatant disregard of his orders to forgo an assault on their enemies after they attempt to reclaim a powerful artifact banishes the boy to a life among the mortals of Earth leaving Asgard defenseless against the treachery of Loki his mischievous “other son” who’s always felt inferior to Thor. Powerless and confused the disgraced Prince finds unlikely allies in a trio of scientists (Natalie Portman Stellan Skarsgard and Kat Dennings) who help him reclaim his former glory and defend our world from total destruction.
Individually the make-up visual effects CGI production design and art direction are all wondrous to behold but when fused together to create larger-than-life set pieces and action sequences the collaborative result is often unharmonious. I’m not knocking the 3D presentation; unlike 2010’s genre counterpart Clash of the Titans the filmmakers had plenty of time to perfect the third dimension and there are only a few moments that make the decision to convert look like it was a bad one. It’s the unavoidable overload of visual trickery that’s to blame for the frost giants’ icy weaponized constructs and other hybrids of the production looking noticeably artificial. Though there’s some imagery to nitpick the same can’t be said of Thor’s thunderous sound design which is amped with enough wattage to power The Avengers’ headquarters for a century.
Chock full of nods to the comics the screenplay is both a strength and weakness for the film. The story is well sequenced giving the audience enough time between action scenes to grasp the characters motivations and the plot but there are tangential narrative threads that disrupt the focus of the film. Chief amongst them is the frost giants’ fore mentioned relic which is given lots of attention in the first act but has little effect on the outcome. In addition I felt that S.H.I.E.L.D. was nearly irrelevant this time around; other than introducing Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye the secret security faction just gets in the way of the movie’s momentum.
While most of the comedy crashes and burns there are a few laughs to be found in the film. Most come from star Hemsworth’s charismatic portrayal of the God of Thunder. He plays up the stranger-in-a-strange-land aspect of the story with his cavalier but charming attitude and by breaking all rules of diner etiquette in a particularly funny scene with the scientists whose respective roles as love interest (Portman) friendly father figure (Skarsgaard) and POV character (Dennings) are ripped right out of a screenwriters handbook.
Though he handles the humorous moments without a problem Hemsworth struggles with some of the more dramatic scenes in the movie; the result of over-acting and too much time spent on the Australian soap opera Home and Away. Luckily he’s surrounded by a stellar supporting cast that fills the void. Most impressive is Tom Hiddleston who gives a truly humanistic performance as the jealous Loki. His arc steeped in Shakespearean tragedy (like Thor’s) drums up genuine sympathy that one rarely has for a comic book movie villain.
My grievances with the technical aspects of the production aside Branagh has succeeded in further exploring the Marvel Universe with a film that works both as a standalone superhero flick and as the next chapter in the story of The Avengers. Thor is very much a comic book film and doesn’t hide from the reputation that its predecessors have given the sub-genre or the tropes that define it. Balanced pretty evenly between “serious” and “silly ” its scope is large enough to please fans well versed in the source material but its tone is light enough to make it a mainstream hit.